Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 12/29/11

Northwest:

--A 26-year-old man was rescued Sunday from a snowy cliff on Mount Becher near Victoria said while he never feared for his life, he was grateful to see the rescuers after spending hours stranded on the side of a mountain. An avid back-country snowboarder, Lawrence Floucault left Mount Washington at 9am, Friday, camped out overnight at McKenzie Lake and planned to finish his trek through Forbidden Plateau by Saturday afternoon. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--For Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, this December does not mark the driest one on record, but close. Mammoth Mountain received two-inches of snow in December. Joani Lynch, Communications Director of Mammoth Mountain, pointed to history.  She said that the 1976-1977 season saw zero inches in December and not much for the season – just 94 inches.  That was a serious drought year. To read more, click here.

-- In other Mammoth Mountain news, the resort is now offering child care facilities.  To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Last week, rescuers pulled a Texas family from an SUV that had been buried in a snowdrift on a rural New Mexico highway for nearly two days. Rescuers were forced to dig through four feet of ice and snow to free the Higgins family, whose vechicle got stuck on U.S. 56 near Springer when a blizzard moved through the area. To read more, click here.

--A scrambler in Joshua Tree National Park took a tumble the day after Christmas. Reports indicate that the individual will be okay.  To read more, click here.

Himalaya:

--In 1955, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first to summit Mount Everest. This year, another mountaineer became one of the first people to tweet from the top. Kenton Cool, an alpinist and climbing guide, had already summited the mountain eight times when, on May 6th, he did it again. This time though, Cool stepped onto the familiar summit, took out his phone and texted a message to the world via Twitter: “Everest summit no 9! 1st tweet from the top of the world thanks to a weak 3G signal & the awesome Samsung Galaxy S2 handset!” To read more, click here.


Notes from All Over:

--Rick Butler, 58, a municipal poliitician from Calgary, died of chest injuries after hitting a tree while skiing with his daughters, Corrie, 22, and Marni, 20, at Nakiska Mountain Resort 85 km west of the city on Monday. To read more, click here.

--15-year old mountaineer Jordan Romero has completed his quest to climb the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, and in the process became the youngest person to achieve that feat. On Christmas Eve, Jordan, along with his father and step-mother, reached the top of the 16,050-foot Mt. Vinson in Antarctica, the last of the mountains on his list. To read more, click here.

--Arctic adventurer Lonnie Dupre has made his way to 9.600 feet on Denali's West Buttress, but it's cold and slow going. To read updates, click here.